WVC 17 E- 1 - 3
§17E-1-3. Definitions.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, the
following definitions apply to this article:

(1) "Alcohol" means:

(A) Any substance containing any form of alcohol, including,
but not limited to, ethanol, methanol, propenyl and isopropanol;

(B) Beer, ale, port or stout and other similar fermented
beverages, including sake or similar products, of any name or
description containing one half of one percent or more of alcohol
by volume, brewed or produced from malt, wholly or in part, or from
any substitute for malt;

(C) Distilled spirits or that substance known as ethyl
alcohol, ethanol or spirits of wine in any form including all
dilutions and mixtures thereof from whatever source or by whatever
process produced; or

(D) Wine of not less than one half of one percent of alcohol
by volume.

(2) "Alcohol concentration" means:

(A) The number of grams of alcohol per one hundred milliliters
of blood;

(B) The number of grams of alcohol per two hundred ten liters
of breath;

(C) The number of grams of alcohol per sixty-seven milliliters
of urine; or

(D) The number of grams of alcohol per eighty-six milliliters of serum.

(3) "At fault traffic accident" means, for the purposes of
waiving the road test, a determination of fault by the official
filing the accident report as evidenced by an indication of
contributing circumstances in the accident report.

(4) "Commercial driver's license" means a license or an
instruction permit issued in accordance with the requirements of
this article to an individual which authorizes the individual to
drive a class of commercial motor vehicle.

(5) "Commercial driver's license information system" is the
information system established pursuant to the Federal Commercial
Motor Vehicle Safety Act to serve as a clearinghouse for locating
information related to the licensing and identification of
commercial motor vehicle drivers.

(7) "Commercial motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle designed
or used to transport passengers or property:

(A) If the vehicle has a gross combination vehicle weight
rating of twenty-six thousand one pounds or more inclusive of a
towed unit(s) with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than ten
thousand pounds;

(B) If the vehicle has a gross vehicle weight rating of
twenty-six thousand one pounds or more;

(C) If the vehicle is designed to transport sixteen or more passengers, including the driver; or

(D) If the vehicle is of any size and transporting hazardous
materials as defined in this section.

(8) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles of
this state.

(9) "Controlled substance" means any substance classified
under the provisions of chapter sixty-a of this code, the Uniform
Controlled Substances Act, and includes all substances listed on
Schedules I through V, inclusive, of article two of said chapter,
as revised. The term "controlled substance" also has the meaning
such term has under 21 U.S.C. §802.6 and includes all substances
listed on Schedules I through V of 21 C.F.R. §1308 as they may be
amended by the United States Department of Justice.

(10) "Conviction" means an unvacated adjudication of guilt; a
determination that a person has violated or failed to comply with
the law in a court of original jurisdiction or by an authorized
administrative tribunal or proceeding; an unvacated forfeiture of
bail or collateral deposited to secure the persons appearance in
court; a plea of guilty or nolo contendere accepted by the court or
the payment of a fine or court cost or violation of a condition of
release without bail regardless of whether or not the penalty is
rebated, suspended, or probated.

(11) "Division" means the Division of Motor Vehicles.

(12) "Disqualification" means any of the following three
actions:

(A) The suspension, revocation, or cancellation of a driver's
license by the state or jurisdiction of issuance.

(B) Any withdrawal of a person's privilege to drive a
commercial motor vehicle by a state or other jurisdiction as the
result of a violation of state or local law relating to motor
vehicle traffic control other than parking or vehicle weight except
as to violations committed by a special permittee on the coal
resource transportation system or vehicle defect violations.

(C) A determination by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration that a person is not qualified to operate a
commercial motor vehicle under 49 C.F.R. Part §391 (2004).

(13) "Drive" means to drive, operate or be in physical control
of a motor vehicle in any place open to the general public for
purposes of vehicular traffic. For the purposes of sections
twelve, thirteen and fourteen of this article, "drive" includes
operation or physical control of a motor vehicle anywhere in this
state.

(14) "Driver" means a person who drives, operates or is in
physical control of a commercial motor vehicle in any place open to
the general public for purposes of vehicular traffic or who is
required to hold a commercial driver's license.

(15) "Driver's license" means a license issued by a state to
an individual which authorizes the individual to drive a motor
vehicle of a specific class.

(16) "Electronic device" includes, but is not limited to, a cellular telephone, personal digital assistant, pager or any other
device used to input, write, send, receive, or read text.

(17) "Employee" means an operator of a commercial motor
vehicle, including full time, regularly employed drivers, casual,
intermittent or occasional drivers, leased drivers and independent,
owner-operator contractors when operating a commercial motor
vehicle, who are either directly employed by or under lease to
drive a commercial motor vehicle for an employer.

(18) "Employer" means a person, including the United States,
a state or a political subdivision of a state, who owns or leases
a commercial motor vehicle or assigns a person to drive a
commercial motor vehicle.

(19) "Endorsement" means an authorization to a person to
operate certain types of commercial motor vehicles.

(20) "Farm vehicle" includes a motor vehicle or combination
vehicle registered to a farm owner or entity operating the farm and
used exclusively in the transportation of agricultural or
horticultural products, livestock, poultry and dairy products from
the farm or orchard on which they are raised or produced to
markets, processing plants, packing houses, canneries, railway
shipping points and cold storage plants and in the transportation
of agricultural or horticultural supplies and machinery to the
farms or orchards to be used on the farms or orchards.

(21) "Farmer" includes an owner, tenant, lessee, occupant or
person in control of the premises used substantially for agricultural or horticultural pursuits who is at least eighteen
years of age with two years licensed driving experience.

(22) "Farmer vehicle driver" means the person employed and
designated by the "farmer" to drive a "farm vehicle" as long as
driving is not his or her sole or principal function on the farm
and who is at least eighteen years of age with two years licensed
driving experience.

(23)"Felony" means an offense under state or federal law that
is punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one
year.

(24) "Gross combination weight rating (GCWR)" means the value
specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of a
combination, articulated vehicle. In the absence of a value
specified by the manufacturer, GCWR will be determined by adding
the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the power unit and the
total weight of the towed unit and load, if any.

(25) "Gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR)" means the value
specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of a single
vehicle. In the absence of a value specified by the manufacturer,
the GVWR will be determined by the total weight of the vehicle and
load, if any.

(26) "Hazardous materials" means any material that has been
designated as hazardous under 49 U.S.C. §5103 and is required to
be placarded under subpart F of 49 C.F.R.,Part §172 or any quantity
of a material listed as a select agent or toxin in 42 C.F.R.,Part §73.

(27) "Imminent hazard" means existence of a condition that
presents a substantial likelihood that death, serious illness,
severe personal injury or a substantial endangerment to health,
property or the environment may occur before the reasonably
foreseeable completion date of a formal proceeding begun to lessen
the risk of that death, illness, injury or endangerment.

(28) "Issuance of a license" means the completion of a
transaction signifying that the applicant has met all the
requirements to qualify for, including, but not limited to: The
initial issuance of a driver's license, the renewal of a driver's
license, the issuance of a duplicate license as a replacement to a
lost or stolen driver's license, the transfer of any level of
driving privileges including the privilege of operating a
commercial motor vehicle from another state or jurisdiction, the
changing of driver's license class, restrictions or endorsements or
the change of any other information pertaining to an applicant
either appearing on the face of a driver's license or within the
driver record of the licensee maintained by the division.

(29) "Motor vehicle" means every vehicle which is self-
propelled and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power
obtained from overhead trolley wires but not operated upon rails.

(30) "Noncommercial motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle or
combination of motor vehicles not defined by the term "commercial
motor vehicle".

(31) "Out-of-service order" means a a declaration by an
authorized enforcement officer of a federal, state, Canadian,
Mexican, county or local jurisdiction including any special agent
of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that a driver,
a commercial motor vehicle, or a motor carrier operation is out of
service pursuant to 49 C.F.R. §§386.72, 392.5, 395.13, 396.9 or
compatible laws or the North American uniform out-of-service
criteria that an imminent hazard exists.

(32) "Violation of an out-of-service order" means:

(A) The operation of a commercial motor vehicle during the
period the driver was placed out-of-service;

(B) The operation of a commercial motor vehicle by a driver
after the vehicle was placed out-of-service and before the required
repairs are made; or

(C) The operation of any commercial vehicle by a motor carrier
operation after the carrier has been placed out of service.

(33) "School bus" means a commercial motor vehicle used to
transport preprimary, primary or secondary school students from
home-to-school, from school-to-home or to and from school sponsored
events. School bus does not include a bus used as a common
carrier.

(34) "Serious traffic violation" means conviction for any of
the following offenses when operating a commercial motor vehicle:

(A) Excessive speeding involving any single offense for any
speed of fifteen miles per hour or more above the posted limits;

(B) Reckless driving as defined in section three, article
five, chapter seventeen-c of this code and careless or negligent
driving, including, but not limited to, the offenses of driving a
commercial motor vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the
safety of persons or property;

(C) Erratic or improper traffic lane changes including, but
not limited to, passing a school bus when prohibited, improper lane
changes and other passing violations;

(F) Driving a commercial motor vehicle without a commercial
driver's license in the driver's possession. However, any person
who provides proof to the law-enforcement agency that issued the
citation, by the date the person must appear in court or pay any
fine for such violation, that the person held a valid commercial
driver's license on the date the citation was issued, shall not be
guilty of this offense;

(G) Driving a commercial motor vehicle without the proper
class of commercial driver's license or endorsements for the
specific vehicle group being operated or for the passengers or type
of cargo being transported;

(H) A violation of state or local law relating to motor
vehicle traffic control, other than a parking violation, arising in
connection with a fatal traffic accident; or

(I) Any other serious violations determined by the United
States Secretary of Transportation.

(J) Vehicle defects are excluded as serious traffic violations
except as to violations committed by a special permittee on the
coal resource transportation road system.

(35) "State" means a state of the United States and the
District of Columbia or a province or territory of Canada or a
state or federal agency of the United Mexican States.

(36)"State of domicile" means the state where a person has his
or her true, fixed and permanent home and principle residence and
to which he or she has the intention of returning whenever absent
in accordance with chapter seventeen-a, article three, section one-
a.

(37) "Suspension, revocation or cancellation" of a driver's
license or a commercial driver's license means the privilege to
operate any type of motor vehicle on the roads and highways of this
state is withdrawn.

(38) "Tank vehicle" means any commercial motor vehicle that is
designed to transport any liquid or gaseous materials within a tank
that is either permanently or temporarily attached to the vehicle
or the chassis. These vehicles include, but are not limited to,
cargo tanks and portable tanks as defined in 49 C. F. R. Part
171 (1998). This definition does not include portable tanks having
a rated capacity under one thousand gallons.

(A) This action includes, but is not limited to, short
messaging service, e-mailing, instant messaging and a command or
request to access a World Wide Web page or engaging in any other
form of electronic text retrieval or entry for present or future
communication.

(B) Texting does not include:

(i) Reading, selecting or entering a telephone number, an
extension number or voicemail retrieval codes and commands into an
electronic device for the purpose of initiating or receiving a
phone call or using voice commands to initiate or receive a
telephone call;

(ii) Inputting, selecting or reading information on a global
positioning system or navigation system; or

(iii) Using a device capable of performing multiple functions
including, but not limited to, fleet management systems,
dispatching devices, smart phones, citizen band radios or music
players for a purpose that is not otherwise prohibited by this
section

(41) "United States" means the fifty states and the District
of Columbia.

(42) "Valid or Certified Medical Certification Status" means that an applicant or driver has a current medical evaluation or
determination by a licensed physician that the applicant or driver
meets the minimum federal motor carrier safety administration
physical qualifications within the prescribed time frames pursuant
49 CFR Part §391. Not-certified means that an applicant or driver
does not have a current medical evaluation or has not been
certified by a licensed physician as meeting the minimum federal
motor carrier safety administration physical qualifications
pursuant 49 CFR Part §391.

(43)"Vehicle Group" means a class or type of vehicle with
certain operating characteristics.
Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2014 1st Special Session
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